NH Homesteader's journal

[frustratedearthmother]

Oh and the hose decided it needed to blow out in one spot so it sprayed all over me and I got soaked. It was soooo cold! I need a new hose.

Well - of course it did! Wet and cold...no thanks!

Oh and unlisting my Nigerian. I can sell her in milk for $350+ and each kid unregistered for $100 in the spring, but DH thinks I should consider keeping her and says I can have 5 does and he won't mind. So who's going to argue with that? More money, or more milk... Either way!

Makes sense to me!

 

[NH Homesteader]

AHHHHH my plans!

I just got an email that the woman I got my minis from is needing to downsize and is offering me 2 50/50 registered mini alpine does, 2 and 3 years old, not related to my girls, for $300 for the pair (in NH prices, this is very, very good!). They're related to Clifford but I need another buck anyway... And maybe she would breed them for me.

Nigerian doe back on the market, gotta bribe DH with some more turkeys or something and maybe only one GG.... I am going to have a super hard time walking away from this!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Somehow I understand that plans get derailed and/or changed occasionally. Of course that NEVER happens at my house, lol!

But, I say HECK YES! Especially if she will breed them for you. Then you could sell bottle babies and probably be money ahead!

Sometimes a deal is too good to pass up!

 

[NH Homesteader]

They're from her retired herd queen so there will be no other chances for goats from this line... Ahhh I warned DH we have to talk about goats when he gets home. So... He's probably nervous right now!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I hope the talk goes well!

 

[NH Homesteader]

He has never said no to an animal request before. I think it'll hinge on getting them bred this year though.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That would be the clincher for sure. Does she have a buck she can breed too that would give you a little different blood line than Clifford?

 

[NH Homesteader]

Yes, she has 3 bucks but the does are related to Clifford so their offspring is not currently any use to me. I just want them bred for milk! If I have to I'll breed them to Clifford and have little meat babies. They're technically related in an ok-for-linebreeding way so it wouldn't be the end of the world.

DH said I should go for it, we'll make it happen! It might bump my GG dreams back a year (we'll see what spring brings) but there are literally NO other mini alpine breeders in New England so this is a big thing for what I'm wanting! Just horribly poor timing... As always, lol

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I think that' awesome that DH agrees! You could always sell any babies to finance the GG's. Or - like you said - put it off a year.

I do a lot of line breeding around here...mostly on purpose back when I was showing. More by accident these days, lol! Stoopid bucks! I've never had anything pop up that looked unusual or weird or mal-formed...only thing that I ever noticed is that after a couple decades of doing it - the overall size of the goats got a little smaller. But, it's a darn good way to "set" traits because of the repeating genes for that trait. Just have to understand that occasionally it backfires and you 'set' traits that you don't want!

I've even had some awesome babies come from two goats that weren't all that great - but I knew their background so I gave it a try.

 

[NH Homesteader]

That makes me feel better! These does are his dam's sisters. Not sure if they're full or half. I wish MDGA had the lookup like ADGA. Love being able to investigate!

This makes me want to find a 50/50 buck. I would have to travel, fly him in, use AI, or buy a full size doe and make my own! Lol we'll see how serious I get about it.